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Former Republican Congressmember Joe Walsh Announces 2020 Run Against Trump

HeadlineAug 26, 2019

Former Illinois Congressmember Joe Walsh announced he is challenging President Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. Walsh won his congressional seat as a “tea party” candidate in 2010 but served just one term before losing in the next election to Democrat Tammy Duckworth. He was a vocal supporter of candidate Trump in 2016 but said in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday, “I helped create Trump,” but that he now thinks “[Trump] is erratic, he’s cruel, he stokes bigotry.”

He also apologized for past racist comments about President Obama. In 2017, he tweeted, “We LOWERED the bar for Obama. He was held to a lower standard cuz he was black,” and later said Obama was elected because he was black. He also promoted birtherism and made anti-Muslim comments about Obama — even though Obama is not Muslim. Joe Walsh is the second Republican to announce he is challenging Trump, after former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld declared his candidacy in April.

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